Lando 
Posted on 06/17/2004 5:46:11 AM PDT by Born Conservative
SOUTH ABINGTON TWP. -- The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission announced Wednesday it will erect a suicide barrier along the towering Freedom Bridge, three days after the 21st suicide here over the last two decades.
A 70-year-old Tamaqua man hurled himself from the 163-foot bridge on Sunday and nearly collided with a group of teenagers walking below. The man landed in the northbound lanes of the Routes 6 and 11, spurring renewed calls for a suicide deterrent from public safety officials and residents.
The Turnpike Commission, which had a scheduled meeting on Tuesday, announced it will accelerate planned reconstruction of the bridge's parapet, which will now include some form of suicide barrier, said spokesman Carl DeFebo.
The commission estimates a total cost of about $3 million. The financial flexibility stems from a toll increase set for Aug. 1, which will generate about $1 billion over 10 years, Mr. DeFebo said.
"From the moment we announced the toll increase through today, we have been looking at various projects," Mr. DeFebo said. "The Clarks Summit parapet has been up on the Top Ten list for some time now. I think the deal was sealed yesterday when the commission learned of this latest suicide."
Tentative timetable
Mr. DeFebo outlined a tentative schedule, envisioning the parapet and barrier designs completed by next spring. The job would be bid sometime next summer, with a construction company on board by next fall, he said. The commission could decide to further expedite the process, he added.
"We were always going to do something once we rehabbed the bridge," said Joseph G. Brimmeier, chief executive officer of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. "We feel bad that these things have occurred. Unfortunately, money dictates sometimes what you can do."
Any discussion of the type of suicide barrier will wait until the Turnpike Commission retains engineering and architectural firms.
For public safety officials in the Abingtons, their wait is over.
For the last 13 years, police Chief Robert Gerrity has all but begged for a suicide barrier at the bridge. Township police are usually the first responders at a Freedom Bridge suicide, and they've becomed seasoned -- but not densensitized -- to the deaths.
Fearing for the safety of his own officers and of those beneath the bridge, Chief Gerrity made the campaign a personal crusade. On Wednesday, he expressed a sense of reticent relief.
"It's unfortunate because the only problem is, who knows how many lives might have been saved or how many people might have been spared the anguish of witnessing these events if they had acted sooner?" Chief Gerrity said. "I won't rest easy until I see something physically in place -- then I'll be relieved."
In December, the Turnpike Commission installed four suicide call boxes along the 1,627-foot-long bridge. A Dec. 14 special report in The Sunday Times examined the incoming crisis phones and the Freedom Bridge's marred history.
"If we built it, we would be neglecting other essential improvements," Mr. DeFebo said in December of erecting a suicide barrier. "That's not a choice that was arrived at easily, and it's not a decision the turnpike relishes. It's the right choice to protect the greater good."
Township Supervisor Mark Dougherty, who on Monday decried the call boxes as a waste of money, hailed the commissioner's Wednesday announcement.
"Twenty-one people have died on that bridge, and now is the appropriate time," Mr. Dougherty said. "It's too bad for the poor guy who went over this past weekend, but hopefully now this will put an end to this chapter."
A day after the Dec. 14 article in The Sunday Times, state Sen. Robert Mellow, D-Peckville, and state Rep. Jim Wansacz, D-Scott Township, met with the Turnpike Commission to discuss the call boxes. At the time, both said they left the meeting "impressed" with the $29,000 phone network.
Mr. Wansacz, reached Wednesday afternoon in Harrisburg, called the barrier announcement "good news."
"I think what you're seeing is with the increase in the tolls and them identifying the different projects, this is something they realized is going to need to be done," he said of the commission. "With the desperate need of the bridge already, I'm sure it's going to get done the right way instead of as a short-term fix."
In the long term, erecting a permanent barrier will save lives, said John Norcross, Ph.D., a University of Scranton professor who has counseled family members from two Freedom Bridge suicides.
Mental illness is linked to about 90 percent of all suicides, and only a small portion, 5 percent to 15 percent, are absolutely determined to die, Dr. Norcross said.
Studies by Richard H. Seiden, Ph.D., an expert on suicides at the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, have shown that 94 percent of people deterred from committing suicide never make a second attempt.
"It's a long overdue preventative measure, which research has found to be very successful in preventing impulsive suicides," Dr. Norcross said of the proposed barrier. "Long-term follow-ups show these people do in fact not make subsequent attempts and do go ahead and live. For the vast majority of people who are making an impulsive, tragic move, this will definitely save lives."
And now Laura Dargatis can comfort her 14-year-old son, who nearly lost his own life Sunday afternoon beneath the bridge. The 70-year-old Schuylkill County man landed less than 50 feet from Michael and his four friends as they walked along the roadway.
The teenagers were in group grief counseling Wednesday afternoon. Having a difficult time emotionally, they still can't bear to go near the bridge, she said.
"Something good did come out of this," Mrs. Dargatis said. "I said to Michael, 'By you speaking out, you may have saved someone's life.' They may just have done that.
"We're going to live here a long time," she added. "They didn't need to be in constant fear of that bridge."
For a second, I thought this was about the suicide bombers...
"It's a long overdue preventative measure, which research has found to be very successful in preventing impulsive suicides," Dr. Norcross said of the proposed barrier. "Long-term follow-ups show these people do in fact not make subsequent attempts and do go ahead and live. For the vast majority of people who are making an impulsive, tragic move, this will definitely save lives."
Now I've seen it all. Bridges with suicide barriers. I guess now they'll have to go up on top of downtown buildings and jump. So, we'll have to suicide barrier everything. People must be protected from themselves and quickly. We're far too dangerous for our own good. Please, government. Do something. Sheesh!
I don't agree with... ""Long-term follow-ups show these people do in fact not make subsequent attempts and do go ahead and live. For the vast majority of people who are making an impulsive, tragic move, this will definitely save lives."
The few people we knew who committed suicide had tried before and were under a doctor's care. I remember one about 30 years ago, and there was one last summer. Both of these men were deeply depressed. Both were smart, educated, had loving families, jobs, everything to live for. But their brain chemistry was messed up. They were on anti depressants and under intensive psychiatric care. I don't know how the one killed himself 30 years ago, just that he did. The one last summer went into a bathroom and shot himself. I suppose no one knew he had bought a gun. All the fences in the world wouldn't have stopped these two. I hope they made it to heaven, and that they are whole now. It was so sad. I had known one of these guys for 52 years.
Twenty-one suicides in twenty years necessitates a multi-million-dollar project?
Faced with a flurry of suicides from its towering Freedom Bridge in South Abington Township, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission ignored pleas from the community for suicide barriers and instead took its own leap of faith.
Claiming that barriers would be too expensive, even though they would save lives, the commission instead spent a few thousand dollars to install -- telephones. Yes, telephones wired to a crisis intervention center. Sunday, a 70-year-old man didn't bother calling before he leaped to his death from the bridge the 21st person to do so over the last 25 years.
Most often, victims have fallen into the broad grassy areas beneath the bridge, on both sides of Routes 6 and 11, also known as Northern Boulevard as it passes through the teeming commercial district of South Abington Township. This time, according to police, the victim fell onto the northbound lanes. It is only by luck that no one on the ground was killed.
Call boxes not used The death was the second at the bridge since last September and the first since the installation of the call boxes -- the installation of which marked another ill-informed miscalculation.
Over the last two years, the commission has reacted to deaths at the bridge with a combination of callousness and ignorance about suicide.
Initially, a spokesman declared that, if someone wanted to commit suicide, he couldn't be stopped -- a position later revised to a belief that a suicide-bent person could be stopped by telephones.
Research on suicides actually has shown that more than 80 percent of people who are dissuaded from suicide and receive help never try it again. The research also reveals that people attempt suicide at the zenith of a personal crisis, and that their inclination toward suicide subsides as the crisis recedes.
Innocent bystanders at risk Moreover, Sunday's tragedy emphasizes the very real risk that innocent parties will be injured or killed when a person leaps from the bridge. Five teenagers were crossing the busy highway below the bridge when the man took his plunge from the 163-foot-high bridge. Police said the Schuylkill County resident landed within 50 feet of the teenagers. The difference of a few seconds or feet easily could have compounded the tragedy.
Clearly, lives can be saved with the construction of a suicide barrier. The Turnpike Commission must stop pretending that it is doing something about suicide at its bridge and start behaving as a responsible public agency.
The commission's 42 percent toll increase will take effect on Aug. 1. The estimated $2.2 million cost to construct a fence along both sides of the 1,627-foot-long span is a scant fraction of the $1.1 billion the toll hike is expected to generate over the next decade. The commission should appropriate the funds now to make the bridge deck less amenable to suicide.
The PA Turnpike Commission should spend more time completing their construction projects quicker. I'm thinking of the projects from Bedford to west of Somerset that have been ongoing for over a year now - no end in sight. The idea of having all trucks and buses move to the left lane, with Jersey barriers on both sides of the road, poor drainage, and rough pavement for more than 40 miles is getting really tiresome. If people want to jump from bridges - so be it.
Will they put up a sign? What will it say?..."Sorry? Go Somewhere Else"?
It's a long overdue preventative measure, which research has found to be very successful in preventing impulsive suicides,"
But it has been researched to be very successfull.......
They just need to ban bridges, yep that would solve all their problems.
I hope that soon the state will authorize asphalt for their turnpike.
"Kill yourself at home"
Lando
"The few people we knew who committed suicide had tried before and were under a doctor's care. I remember one about 30 years ago, and there was one last summer. Both of these men were deeply depressed. Both were smart, educated, had loving families, jobs, everything to live for. But their brain chemistry was messed up. They were on anti depressants and under intensive psychiatric care. I don't know how the one killed himself 30 years ago, just that he did. The one last summer went into a bathroom and shot himself. I suppose no one knew he had bought a gun. All the fences in the world wouldn't have stopped these two. I hope they made it to heaven, and that they are whole now. It was so sad. I had known one of these guys for 52 years."
Which is exactly my point. If these people really want to commit suicide, they'll find a way to do regardless of whether the bridge has suicide prevention or not. That's why I said it's a big waste of money. Right on, buffy. You win a small cookie. :)
So...this barrier is going to be some sort of twelve step program?
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